Biography

Eiko Maruko Siniawer, Professor of History, specializes in the history of modern Japan. Her first book (Ruffians, Yakuza, Nationalists) examines issues of political violence and democracy through a focus on violence specialists, or the professionally violent. The book explores the ways in which ruffianism became embedded and institutionalized in the practice of modern Japanese politics and argues that for much of Japan’s modern history, political violence was so systemic and enduring that Japan can be considered a violent democracy.

Her current book manuscript in progress is on the concepts of waste and wastefulness in post-World War II Japan. By considering shifts in what was considered to be waste and wasteful (be it resources, time, or material objects), her work explores people’s struggles to find value, meaning, and happiness in a post-industrialist, capitalist, consumerist, and affluent Japan.

Professor Siniawer teaches a variety of courses on Japanese history, including surveys of early modern and modern Japanese history, a first-year seminar on the Japanese empire, a 300-level course on U.S.-Japan relations, and an advanced tutorial on war memory. She also offers an introductory-level tutorial on Korean history, a 300-level course on comparative histories of the 1930s, and a History 301.

She holds a Ph.D. in history and an A.M. in East Asian studies both from Harvard University, and a B.A. in history from Williams College.

“Befitting Bedfellows: Yakuza and the State in Modern Japan.” The Journal of Social History45, no. 3 (Spring 2012). Reprinted in The Hidden History of Crime, Corruption and States, ed. Renate Bridenthal. New York: Berghahn Books, 2013.